Green Transportation

Over the next four years, we will provide better infrastructure to get more people out of their cars and onto their feet, bikes, or public transit.

• 3.1 - Improve walking and cycling infrastructure on the False Creek bridges and implement spot improvements throughout the existing walking and cycling networks.
• 3.2 - Implement a Bike Sharing Program.
• 3.3 - Extend Millennium Line SkyTrain under Broadway to Arbutus.
• 3.4 - Implement transit improvements including new B‐Line routes, more bus service, and station upgrades.

Public bike share (Mobi) is coming to Vancouver in summer 2016 with 1,000 bicycles and 100 stations. Another 500 bikes and 50 stations will be added by end of the summer.

Mobi will initially serve the downtown peninsula, extending to Arbutus Street, 16th Avenue, and Main Street.

Projects of all sizes, from smaller "spot improvements” to large infrastructure projects, helped make our streets safer for everyone. 

We've seen record levels of cycling across the city:

• The number of daily trips by bike increased by a third in 2015.
• 7% of all trips in the city are now made by bike and in some neighbourhoods, that figure is as high as 17%.
• More than a quarter of Vancouverites report riding at least twice a week in fair weather, and over half indicate they would like to cycle more often.

In March 2016, we announced the purchase of the Arbutus Corridor from CP Rail. We were in discussions with CP Rail about the 42 acres of land known as the Arbutus Corridor for several years. 

The Arbutus Greenway represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to repurpose a transportation corridor, similar to New York’s High Line and other international examples.

We have seen a city-wide increase in walking as a way of getting around. Following the completion of the Hornby Street protected bike lane foot traffic increased 20%, and cycling on the sidewalk decreased by 80%, demonstrating that creating complementary systems enhances safety for everyone. Pedestrian use along the Seaside Greenway has also increased.

Parklets

Our VIVA Vancouver Program continues to enliven Vancouver by turning street spaces into pedestrianized public places.

Robson Redux design competition

VIVA hosted the second design-build challenge in 2014 for the temporary public space at 800-block Robson Street downtown through the Robson Redux competition. It received 81 submissions from around the world. 97% of passers-by reported that Robson Redux enhanced their pedestrian experience.

More than ever, people are choosing more sustainable options for getting around the city. Half of all trips made in Vancouver are by foot, bike, and transit, and we have reached our 2020 target of 50%.

In early 2015, we took part in a Transportation and Transit Plebiscite where residents across the region voted either for or against a 0.5% sales tax increase to support a progressive and comprehensive transportation plan spanning the next 30 years.

For Vancouver, a positive result would give us the ability to take steps toward improving our transportation network and building a tunnelled extension of the Millennium SkyTrain line through what is the second busiest economic area in BC and busiest bus corridor in North America: the Broadway Corridor.

Mode share totals for baseline year (40% of trips in 2008) was based on data gathered through a Translink "Trip Diary" survey that is conducted about once every five years. A new methodology involving an annual Vancouver residents-only survey was introduced in 2013 to capture the same information, and will be used for measuring both Green Transportation indicators going forward.

This metric is maintained by the Transportation Division within Engineering Services at the City.